Security figures criticised the MPs - led by former Attorney General Dominic Grieve – for ignoring the extreme historical context of the event

One senior Whitehall source has dubbed the reports’ verdict as “brutal”.

Security figures criticised the MPs - led by former Attorney General Dominic Grieve – for ignoring the extreme historical context of the events, which came amid a global panic in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.

One figure said: “It was an extremely difficult time, during which intelligence officers from MI5, MI6 and GCHQ acted with true heroism and saved a lot of lives.

“Put simply, some of them were just in the wrong room at the wrong time, but have been put through the wringer over what they saw ever since.

“It is a shame that context has not been fully reflected.”

Some of the events of concern detailed by the MPs go back more than 16 years.

One of the most serious took place in January 2002, when a team of MI5 and MI6 officers arrived at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan to interview detainees being held by the CIA, already being subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques”.

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“But we have used the last 15 years to develop new and effective capabilities.

“We can put our officers where they need to be, in some of the most challenging locations imaginable, with the support they need to stay safe and the guidance and training required to navigate complex and ethically hazardous environments.”

One of the ISC’s reports deals with the mistreatment and rendition of terror suspects from 2001-2010, and the second looks at current issues.